Colombia quake damaged 100 houses, injured 15 - The National Risk Management Unit said all areas affected by Saturday's quake had been reached, and the toll was definitive. Twenty-four schools and a clinic also were among the structures damaged by the quake, which registered 7.0 on the moment magnitude scale and 6.9 on the Richter scale. Its epicentre was near Pasto, Colombia, a city of 400,000.

Small Utah earthquake cluster ‘wake-up call’ - A recent cluster of earthquake activity in south-central Utah prompted the Red Cross on Friday to issue warnings to Utahns to make emergency preparations and planning a priority. The Thursday afternoon shakers were called "an important wake-up call," though the temblors registered as minor in magnitude and caused no damage — but were reported felt throughout the Iron County area.
Three of the eight quakes, with an epicenter 9 miles northwest of Cedar City, were recorded between 12:30 p.m. and 1 p.m. Thursday at magnitudes of 2.0, 3.1 and 3.5. A quake measuring 3.7 was recorded about 7:46 p.m. with an epicenter 9 miles northwest of Enoch, followed by a 2.8-magnitude "micro quake" at 8:19 p.m. Seismic experts have long warned that major urban areas, particularly along the Wasatch Front, are at risk for a major future earthquake.
"Had it been a major quake, tens of thousands of Utahns would likely be without shelter and life-sustaining necessities. Our kids. Our friends and neighbors. Preparing now should be a major priority for all of us." The Red Cross stressed the importance of keeping emergency survival and first aid kits both at home and in vehicles, and to make sure family members know where to meet up following a disaster. The Red Cross offers free preparedness apps for smart phones that provide alerts, important preparedness information, and one-touch "I’m safe" messaging.

Solomons quake unlikely to trigger Tinakula eruption - A volcanologist says it's very unlikely that the recent earthquake in Solomon Islands will trigger a large eruption from the nearby Tinakula volcano. It has been proven that this can happen elsewhere in the world but only if the volcano is actively ready to erupt.
Tinakula is uninhabited and it is quite unlikely that its activity might impact on neighbouring islands. A worst case scenario would be a large eruption with the side of the volcano collapsing into the sea causing another tsunami. Activity was being monitored before the quake. “There were a lot of foreshocks, earthquakes in the vicinity, both where the magnitude 8 earthquake happened and getting closer towards Tinakula. So people were looking at that a bit more closely. There was a possibility that the earthquakes might have been precursors to volcanic eruptions but in the end it looks like they were predominantly related to the tectonic movements rather than the volcano.”
Governments from New Zealand, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands are hoping to monitor active volcanos like Tinakula more closely and build a Melanesian volcano network but this isn’t yet fully established.

El Hierro volcano (Canary Islands) - possible second submarine eruption. Some new data suggest that a second submarine eruption occurred at El Hierro last year.
Spanish scientists have published what they claim evidence that a second submarine eruption actually occurred at the sea floor SW off El Hierro Island during the strong seismic crises in end of June - July 2012. Evidence of this claimed eruption was detected by the oceanographic vessel Hesperides using sonar images which, according to the researchers showed volcanic material erupted in an area less than 2 NM from the coast and at depths of 64 to 88 meters. The material formed a plume that rose up to a depth of 48 meters.
Involcan claims that the strong deformation and increased gas emissions at that time confirm this hypothesis. However, no earthquakes at shallow depths occurred. But this is exactly what would be expected if new eruptive vents had opened there. All in all, it is fair to keep some doubts about the researchers' conclusion.

TSUNAMIS / HIGH WAVES - Relief supplies have begun trickling into tsunami-hit communities in the Solomons Islands, as another powerful aftershock rattled the Pacific nation in the wake of last week's 8.0-magnitude earthquake. The aftershocks had slowed but not halted aid operations in the remote Santa Cruz islands, where at least 10 people died in the tsunami triggered by the quake last Wednesday.
"The wharf in (regional capital) Lata has been damaged, so it can't take large, heavy trucks. But we feel like we've got logistics down on the ground now, and distribution is becoming more orderly. Water, shelter and food are the major issues." The latest jolt on Monday morning measured 6.3 and was centred 51 kilometres southwest of Lata at a depth of 35 kilometres. It was the third tremor to top 6.0 since Friday, but the seismic rumblings had not halted the emergency operation. "They're sort of getting used to it now. They feel that they're coping with the aftershocks, even though some of them are quite big."
The Solomon Islands government has declared the Santa Cruz Islands a disaster area. Aerial surveys indicate most of the damage is confined to the Lata region. Almost 600 houses are believed to have been destroyed, with most of the destruction caused in the initial earthquake and the metre-high tsunami which swept through coastal areas soon after, leaving more than 3000 people homeless.

TROPICAL STORMS -
In the South Indian Ocean -
- Tropical Cyclone Haley was located approximately 500 nm south-southeast of Bora Bora, Society Islands, French Polynesia.

Australia - Citrus production is set to fall by up to 15 per cent after the devastating floods in Queensland, the peak growers' group says. Growers west of Bundaberg, the worst hit city, have suffered heavy losses, with orange and lemon trees deluged at Wallaville and Reid's Creek, near Gayndah. Thousands of trees have also been destroyed near Mundubbera.
Citrus Australia, which represents 1800 growers across Australia, estimates production volumes will fall by 10 to 15 per cent in the aftermath of the floods caused by ex-tropical cyclone Oswald.

Tornado rakes southern Mississippi, damages university - A swarm of tornadoes tore through several counties in southern Mississippi and Alabama on Sunday, injuring at least 10 people and ripping apart hundreds of homes and other buildings, including parts of the University of Southern Mississippi. The American Red Cross center in Hattiesburg, Miss., is completely destroyed.
The Forrest County seat of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and the adjacent town of Petal, both about 100 miles southeast of Jackson, the state capital, bore the brunt of storms that struck less than an hour before dark. The tornado that plowed through the Hattiesburg area was believed to have reached three-quarters of a mile in diameter at times, said Anna Weber. The weather service counted three separate twisters in south-central Mississippi on Sunday evening.
In neighboring southwestern Alabama, authorities reported a flurry of seven tornadoes across three counties, including one that damaged 46 homes in Clark County. About 100 houses or more were damaged or destroyed in Petal, Mississippi, alone, and several businesses were hard hit there as well, including a hardware store reduced to rubble. A number of residents suffered minor injuries but no one was reported seriously hurt. "Mostly people are just shaken up and in shock." A spokesman for the state Emergency Management Agency said he had reports of at least 10 people injured throughout four stricken Mississippi counties, including eight who were taken to hospitals in Marion County.
Emergency management officials said no firm estimates of property losses were immediately available. Power outages were widespread. CNN broadcast photos of several homes in Hattiesburg badly mangled from the storm, some with roofs and exterior walls ripped open. A search-and-rescue team from the nearby town of McComb was being called in to help look through debris for anyone who might be trapped.
On the Hattiesburg campus of the University of Southern Mississippi, the storm damaged several buildings, including a performing arts center and an alumni house. No injuries were reported on campus. The twister also heavily damaged a high school stadium complex and blew a truck onto the school's baseball diamond.
Video footage showed what appeared to be a large, gray tornado, filmed from a distance, churning through town as a cloud of debris swirled around it. The Hattiesburg area also suffered heavy property damage from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. (video)

HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -

U. S. East Coast - Rain spurred fears of flooding and of roof collapses from melting snow in New York and Connecticut as the Northeast struggled to dig out from a weekend blizzard. Rain froze into glaze on contact with the cold ground and other surfaces before dawn Monday, but temperatures were forecast to rise into the mid- to upper 40s from New York City through Boston, with precipitation falling as snow and sleet farther north.
The new storm, much weaker than the historic nor'easter that brought up to 40 inches of snow across New England and parts of New York, prompted Connecticut Governor to warn residents Sunday to clean snow off their roofs amid dangers of roof collapses from the Monday rain's added weight. Several roofs collapsed across his state and in New York's Long Island Sunday as armies of snowplows and workers with shovels made slow progress against the historic storm, spawned by the collision of two weather systems.
The storm, which affected more than 40 million people, killed at least 11 people, including a 14-year-old boy in Boston who died of carbon-monoxide poisoning Saturday. He was helping his father shovel snow and took a break to warm up in a car whose tailpipe was plugged by snow. Suffolk County, making up the eastern half of Long Island, dug out of 3 feet of snow. The emergency mobilization one of the largest for a snowstorm in New York state history. Many cars on Long Island remained abandoned along impassable roadways Monday. Most public transit throughout the Northeast was expected to resume at least limited service Monday. Some New England transit agencies warned that heavily accumulated snow in some areas and unplowed snow on secondary roads would make it difficult for buses to travel safely. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority warned customers to "expect significant delays and plan extra time for their Monday morning commute."
The New York state Metropolitan Transportation Authority said most service on the Metro-North Railroad, the nation's busiest commuter railroad, and Long Island Rail Road, the second-busiest, would operate with limited service. Amtrak said it restored limited service between New York and Boston and near-normal service between New York and the state capital in Albany.
Logan International Airport in Boston and the three major airports in the New York City area also resumed flights. But the storm that forced more than 5,000 flight cancellations since Thursday created a cascade of delays and service interruptions that could last for days. Mail service suspended in all six New England states Saturday was to resume Monday in areas where it was safe to deliver.
Across eight states, fewer than 200,000 customers remained without power. This figure was down from a peak of nearly 670,000 reported by the U.S. Energy Department. Most remaining customers were expected to have power again by late Monday, utilities said. Scores of school districts through New England and on Long Island gave students another snow day Monday as crews continued to dig out.
As the Northeast sought to recover, a large winter storm across the Northern Plains dumped at least a foot of snow and brought high winds and whiteout conditions from Colorado to central Minnesota. Officials closed Interstate 90 between Sioux Falls and Chamberlain, S.D., 140 miles west, and Interstate 29 between Sioux Falls and Watertown, 100 miles north. I-29 was also closed in North Dakota from the state border to Fargo, near the western Minnesota border.
Western Minnesota also got a foot of snow by early Monday, and parts of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area got almost 6 inches and were forecast to get another couple of inches before daylight, followed by wind gusts up to 35 mph that were expected to blow and drift the snow later Monday. The same storm system created severe thunderstorms and tornadoes overnight across portions of the central Gulf Coast states ahead of a strong cold front moving through the region. A tornado that struck the south-central Mississippi town of Hattiesburg Sunday caused widespread damage, 70 miles north of Gulfport, Miss., and 100 miles northeast of New Orleans.

About Me

Hello and welcome!
I'm Crystal - the sole creator and maintainer of this site.
I started the webpage in 1998 - just before the turn of the millenium, when everyone was talking about the disasters that were coming.